Any building that has stood for nearly 30 years needs some upgrades, and the Manitowoc County Jail is no exception. The jail has received numerous upgrades over the past few years, something that Sheriff Dan Hartwig says is pretty standard across the board. He explained to SeehaferNews.com that the original jail was built in the 1960’s and the current building was built in 1993 following a jail expansion, putting them at 27 years old. “Most jails from what I’ve seen at the national level are 30 year buildings,” Hartwig explained. “That’s why you are starting to see a lot of stuff getting replaced now.”
The Sheriff sent us a list of all of the projects that have been done over the past five years that cost over $10,000. Since 2015, 14 different projects have or will be taking place this year, but the Hartwig explained that those only scratch the surface. “There’s a lot of stuff under $10,000 that’s getting replaced as well,” he stated. “We still have some of our original driers and wash machines from back in ’93. Two of our three commercial driers are probably going to be getting replaced this year, and those are $8,000 a piece.”
One of the biggest expenditures came in 2018, when the security system and CCTV cameras were replaced. Hartwig says that project actually replaced the system that was in place since 1993, taking it from analog to digital. He compared it to switching from a flip phone to an iPhone. He explained, “A lot of server space had to be added into the Sheriff’s Office, we replaced a large amount of cameras, all the monitors were replaced, and a lot of touch screens were added.” He went on to say that roughly 5 cameras are replaced every year during regular maintenance, and they have a total of around 170 cameras, including one in every cell block.
The Manitowoc County Sheriff praised the Department of Public Works for their work in keeping the jail operational. DPW has a capitol plan set for the next 10 years to continue to update the jail, and Hartwig said any and all upgrades do have to be approved by the County Board as well.